Page 77 of In the Long Run
‘Um, excuse me?’a timid voice says behind me, popping the bliss bubble we’ve been caught within.‘Did you want your medals?’
Gen snickers, a hand covering her mouth like she’s coming back to herself after an out-of-body experience.
Please don’t change your mind about me.Not now you know the real me.
‘Thanks,’ she says to the man wearing a neon orange volunteer bib and a wide-brimmed hat.She accepts two medals and loops one around my neck.‘Hmm.’
‘Hmm?’
‘Something doesn’t look right.’She shrugs, twisting her mouth into a puzzled expression.‘I think this would look better if you were shirtless.’
I snort.It’s not attractive, but it makes her smile stretch wider, her eyes sparkle.‘That was a terrible line.Is that the best you got?’
Gen slides her arm around my waist, snuggling in against me, as she waves goodbye to Violet and the rest of our crew.‘Oh, I’m barely getting started, Knox.’
‘Here’s how it’s going to work,’ Gen says, pushing open the door to our cottage.
I swallow a laugh.‘I have done this before, you know.’
She slaps my arm and I catch her hand, holding it against my skin.I can’t stop touching her.
‘We’re going to start by agreeing to be better at giving ourselves grace.’
Those are my words from the other day.From right before Ikissed her.Right before she tilted my world on its axis or – more correctly – she rebalanced it.
Gen moves until she’s right in front of me.The line across her forehead from her visor hasn’t faded fully yet and her cheeks are still flushed.The hours we’ve spent in the sun are the most likely cause, but I hope my kisses contributed.
‘Because, Knox, we deserve nice things.’
The persistent melancholy that I’ve carried for so long, the one that normally manifests as an ache, disappears.
‘And we’re going to live in the moment.We’re going to enjoy what’s happening right now.’
My hands grip her hips so tightly they’re going to leave a mark.‘I’d like that.’
Her gaze drops to my lips and God, I need to get her naked.Stretch her out on that big-ass bed and show her how good I can be to her.Do my best to give her everything she asks for.I breathe in deeply and my nose reminds me that I’ve just run/walked thirty-five kilometres.A shower’s required.Gen’s gone still in my arms, and I wonder if she’s had the same realisation or if she’s having second thoughts.
‘How about we hit pause for five minutes.Get clean,’ I murmur, keeping my arms locked around her.
Her nose brushes against my shirt as she nods and her breath warms my chest.‘But what if I don’t want to let you go yet?’
My head tips back as my emotions short out all the barriers I tried to put in place.
‘Can I?’she asks, toying with the bottom of my shirt.
I don’t answer her with words.I just lift my arms.Laugh when the neck gets caught in my mouth.
‘You’re so damn tall,’ Gen huffs.There’s a noise and I realise she’s standing on the bed now.She yanks my shirt off my face and the swell of her breasts is all I can see.‘Oh,’ she squeaks.
‘I have no complaints,’ I say, pressing my face into her chest.Her nipples harden through her sports bra and it’s suddenly imperative I get her clothes off.‘You good?’
‘Could be so much better,’ she breathes, her fingers threading through my hair.
My hands slide underneath her top, coasting up her sides, chasing the goosebumps that appear as she shivers.
I pull back long enough to push her top over her tits.My hands fumble with the back of her sports bra.If it’s the kind you need an engineering degree to undo, I might cry.My cock definitely will.
‘There isn’t a clasp,’ she moans, removing her hands from my hair and yanking off her own top.It falls somewhere.I don’t know or care where.
